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THE RESIDENCE OF RIGH'^ LLY/VD
THE BARD OF SNOWDON
I' UK
POETICAL WORKS,
OF
RI C HARD LLWYD,
THE BARD OF SNOWDON ;
coMruisiNO
BEAUMAHTS BAY
A^D
#tiet p^iOT^
Willi A
PORTRAIT AND MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR.
DEDICATED, BY PERMISSION,
TO iUS
ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF SUSSEX.
L O N D O N :
WHITTAKER & CO. AVE MARIA LANE.
HUGH HUGHES. 15, SAINT MARTIN-LE-GRAND.
AND E. PARRY, EXCHANGE, CHESTER.
CHESTER:
PKI.NTKU BY r, P. EVANS, FOREGATE STREET.
TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE DUKE OF SUSSEX.
May it pleask your Royal Highness,
It is with the sincerest gratitude, that the
PubUsher has the permission to lay the following
unpretending pages at your feet, under w^hose
auspices they will advantageously appear to the
world. They are the production of a man of
humble birth, subordinate station in society, with-
out education ; but whose genius, with a commen-
dable perseverance, burst through the shades of
obscurity, and eventually placed him in a respect-
able rank with the literary characters of the age.
The world has long had occasion to know,
that your Royal Highness's patronage of men of
letters, and of the sciences, is not circumscribed
to elevated rank ; but that merit, whether exist-
ent in the patrician or plebeian, is the criterion
by which your enlightened mind is regulated,
and vour liberal hand directed. Nor does the
871524
IV.
circunislunce of the author's being a native of
the mountains of Cambria, render him less
observant of your Royal Highness's regard, or
his works less deserving of your protection, than
if he had been a star of the first magnitude
ilhimining the metropolis of the empire.
Unaccustomed to the language of adulation,
which would be as unwelcome to your Royal
Highness to receive, as it would be impertinent
in the publisher to offer, it is sufficient to ob-
serve, that your public and private life will be
the best eulogium that can be given of your ex-
ulted virtues.
Praying that Divine Providence may long
preserve your valuable life in health and comfort,
to be an ornament to your station, and an in-
creasing blessing to your country, permit me to
subscribe myself.
Your Royal Highness's
Most obedient, faithful, humble Servant,
THE PUBLISHER.
July 18. 1837.
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CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Beaumaris Bay, a Poem ; with Notes Descriptive and
Explanatory, Genealogical Notices of some of the
Fifteen Tribes of North Wales, Families descended
from them, &c. &c. &c. ..... 3
Appendix to Ditto ....... 59
Sonnet to the Muse . . . . . .71
Hymn to Temperance ...... 72
Lines addressed to the Thrush, in the Garden at Pen-
rhos, the Residence of Lady Stanley, with Notes, &c. 76
Sonnet, written on picking up from a Foot-path, the
Fragments of a broken Bottle .... 82
Gilbert Plane, of Buxton, with Notes ... 83
Elegy on Evan the Thatcher, Father of Gwilym ab
Evan Hen. Dedicated to Sharon Turner, Esq.
With Notes, &c 88
Sonnet to Content ...... 93
Kate of Cyrnmau . . i ... 94
Ode to Winter 100
Sonnet to Evan Thomas, of Maes, an untaught, unas-
suming, but beneficent and most successful Bone-
Setter 104
XX. CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Ode of the Months, with some Account of Sir Gruf-
fyckl Llwyd, from Rowland's Antiquitatis Parochiales,
and Mr. Vaughan of Henfifwrt's Notes on Powel's
History of Wales. Dedicated to Sir T. Mostyn, Bt. 105
The Contrast ; a Sonnet, written on seeing a tall and
corpulent Lady in a Phx'ton and Four, passing a
short thin Woman, with a Pitcher of Water on her
head, a Basket of Potatoes in one hand, a Child in
the other, and followed by three more . . .117
The Kiss. (From the British.) . . . .118
Owen of Llangoed. Dedicated to F. Williams, Esq. 119
Sonnet : Ynys y Cedeirn, or the Isle of the Mighty
Men 137
An Address to the generous Inhabitants of Liverpool,
in behalf of a Widow and four fatherless Children . 139
The Scarecrow; a tale . . . . . .142
The Bird. (From the British.) . . . .1.50
Lines, written at the Tuckies, in Coalbrook Dale . 1 .5 1
The Birch, written on hearing a Cottager's Wife re-
gretting that a Birch Broom had cost her threepence.
With Notes LOS
Sonnet to the Rev. W. Warrington, Author of the
History of Wales 161
The Vision of Taliesin. With Notes, &c. . .162
Sonnet to Resignation . . , . . .168
CONTENTS. XXI.
PAGE.
Lines on the Castle of Harlech. Dedicated to Sir R.
W. Vaughan, Bart. . . . . . â–º 169
Sonnet, on seeing some beautiful Lines on Bamborough
Castle. Notes 182
Ode to Freedom . . . . . . .184
Sonnet, written at Porthaethwy Fair. . . .187
Ode to Triumph. (Translated from the British of
Llygad Gwr, Bard to Llywelyn ab GrufFydd, the last
Prince of Wales, written in the prosperous days of
his Patron 189
Address of the Bard of Snowdon to his Countrymen,
during the threats of the Invasion in 1803. Dedi-
cated to Sir Robert Williams, Bart. M.P. Colonel
of the Snowdon Rangers. With Notes. . .194
Lines to the Fair Maids of Meirion, " Morwynion
glan Merionydd." (From the British of the late
ingenious Lewis Morris, Esq.) .... 203
Lines written on a View of Snowdon from Capel Curig 206
The Bank of Charity, or Eternal Treasure . .211
Lines addressed to the Sons and Daughters of Cambria,
written on seeing Mr. Burt's Collection of Portraits 214
Lines addressed to the Field of Battle in Spain, where
the brave Colonel Cadogan fell . . . .216
The Soliloquy of a Bard after the last Conflict in
Snowdon, ... ^ ... . 218
D 1
XXn. CONTENTS.
PAGE.
The Fairies' Song ....... 220
Lines on the Grand Suspension Bridge over the Menai 222
Verses to the Gwyneddigion Society. . . . 223
Lines on the Roodee, or Chester Races . . . 226
A Song, written during the general Election of 1807,
addressed to the Burgesses of Flint and its Contri-
butory Boroughs. ...... 228
An Ode to the New Year. Inscribed to Paul Panton,
Esq. of Plas-gwyn, Anglesey .... 230
Lines addressed to the Hon. E. Mostyn Lloyd Mostyn,
M.P. Son of Lord Mostyn, on his Coming of Age,
17th January, 1816 . . . . . . 234
Lines addressed to the Ladies Barbara and Sophia
Coventry, on their presenting the Bard with a pair of
Garters of their own Knitting .... 237
Lines on the Anniversary of the Countess of Orkney's
Birth-day 239
Elegiac Lines on the Death of John Maurice Jones,
Esq. of Gelli-gynan, in his 22d year . . . 240
Lines addressed to the Powysian Congress held at Welsh-
pool, under the Presidency of Lord Clive, in 1824. 242
Lines addressed to James Nesbitt Evans, of Llwyn Onn 245
Sonnet and Letter addressed to Mrs. Cobbold, of Ips-
wich, on her painting a half-length Picture of Mr.
Llwyd's Mother 24"
CONTENTS. XXlll.
PAGE.
Kick the World before me, or R. Llwyd's Address to
the World 249
Lines on the Marriage of Colonel Gore to Miss Ormsby,
of Brogyntyn ....... 250
Lines on the Anniversary of the Marriage of Owen
Williams, Esq. M.P. for Marlow ... 254
Lines written in the Grot at Stourhead, the Seat of Sir
Richard Colt Hoare, Bart 257
Lines from the Latin of Cardinal Bimbo . . . 257
Song addressed to Earl Grosvenor on the Anniversary
of his fifteenth Birth-day, January 27, 1810 . . 258
An Ode to the Bard of the Wrekin, on his claiming
the use of the Poet's Corner in the Chester Chronicle 260
Lines addressed to Sir Richard Bulkeley Williams
Bulkeley, Bart, on his fifth Birth-day . . 263
Lines to the Tudor Family ..... 264
Lines addressed to Wilson Jones, Esq. of Gelli-gynan,
on his Coming of Age, July 3, 1816. With Notes 265
Elegiac Lines on the Death of Bennet Williams, Esq.
of the House of Bodelwyddan. With Notes. . 269
A Song to congratulate Sir W. W. Wynn, Bart. M.P.
on his Return, after the Battle of Waterloo. Notes. 270
Fanny of the Fold . . . . . . . 274
Lines on Bodvel Hall, the Birth-place of Mrs. Piozzi. 276
True Wealth or Bliss ...... 278
VXIV. CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Sonnet on receiving some I'apers written by liis Mother 280
Bugail Eulio, or the Destitute Boy . . . .281
Lines on the Anniversary of St. David's Day at Chester 282
Sonnet on the Tomb of Edward the First. . . '28.'J
Einion the Soother. Inscribed to John Parry, Esq.
Editor of the Welsh Melodies .... 287
An Essay on Pedigree, or the Descent of Mary Dod. 289
Petition to the Sun '299
MEMOIR
OF
RICHARD LLWYD,
AUTHOR OF BEAUMARIS BAY,
SgC. ijC.
MEMOIR, &c.
The tracing the incidents in the lives of indivi-
duals who have distinguished themselves by their
proficiency in literature, their skill in war, their
wisdom and patriotism as statesmen, or their
superior acquirements in any branch of science,
is so far useful to mankind, as it may serve to
prompt them to an emulation of the example.
The exploits of the warrior, and the adventures
of the traveller, are subjects that fascinate the
generality of readers ; but the intellectual observer
delights most in that philosophy of mind, which,
by dint of unceasing effort, elevates a man above
the ordinary station in which he is placed by
Providence, and bids defiance to external cir-
cumstances, however adverse, to repress his
thirst for the acquisition of knowledge. Such a
character will be found in the subject of the fol-
lowing Memoir.
XXVlll. MEMOIR OF
Richard Llwyd, better known in Wales as the
Bard of Snowdon, was born at Beaumaris, in
Anglesey, in the year 1752. He was the son of
John and Alice Llwyd, who occupied at the time
of his birth, the house now called the King's
Head, on the Quay, in that little towm. His
father, who had spent the early part of his life
in the service of his country at sea, had, by a
prudence for which the British tar is in general
less remarkable than for his courage, saved a
little sum, which, added to his portion of prize
money, enabled him to purchase, when dis-
charged on the return of peace, a small sloop,
with which he carried on the coasting trade.
Sober, regular, and affectionately attentive to the
welfare of his family, his conduct was exemplary,
and his success encouraging.
His mother, naturally industrious, was in the
meantime fully employed in the management of
her house (a public one) and the cares of a family,
consisting of our poet, a brother, and a sister.
For some years their prospectg were pleasing.
B. LLWYD. XXIX.
and gradually brightening; they fondly antici-
pated the day when their united perseverance in
the path of industry and frugality, would enable
them to relax in their exertions, and place them,
if not within the pale of competence, at least
out of the reach of indigence. In allusion to
these bright prospects of his parents, in this sea-
son of their prosperity, the poet thus sings, in
one of his minor poems —
Their worthy bosoms now beat high,
A world of bUss was forming ;
'Tis thus we sometimes paint at night
The sunshine of the morning.
But, alas ! how vain are frequently the hopes
and anticipations of man. The storm was now
collecting that was to involve this industrious
family in one common ruin ; an accumulation of
calamity which neither sagacity could foresee,
nor prudence prevent. His father, who had
taken a trip to Warrington, in Lancashire, with
his vessel, was there seized with that fatal dis-
ease, the small pox, a disorder which the medical
XXX. -MEMOIH OF
art has not yet learned to conquer nor .subdue.
His youth, temperance, and vigour, served only
to protract the unavailing conflict, in which he
fell, in his thirty-second year ; previous to which,
he had, unfortunately for his family, refused to
dispose of his vessel, persuaded that it would at
home turn to better advantage. But the widow's
cup of affliction was not yet full. The ill-fated
vessel, laden with potatoes, was subsequently
driven on shore in Dulas Bay, in Anglesey,
wrecked, and the whole cargo lost ; and, to com-
plete the tragedy, the creditors thronged with
unfeeling avidity into the house of mourning
with demands very considerably augmented by
the long illness and interment of her husband
at such a distance from home. Her household
goods, and all her effects, were given up to sa-
tisfy their claims, and nothing remained to the
afflicted widow but her three children and appa-
rent destitution. A friendly relative, however,
with a view to lessen her pressures, carried away
our young bard, and placed him under the care
R. LLWYD. XXXI.
of a cottager's wife at a few miles distance in the
island ; and it is but justice to say, that these
good people have frequently declared in the
evening of their days, that Richard, though
they had seven of their own, was the most duti-
ful of their children. To this poor, but worthy
family, he ever retained the most lively respect
and gratitude. When he had happily raised
himself from his obscurity, and his company
was courted by the greatest families in the
island,, he was upon one occasion invited to
dine and spend the day at the house of an opu-
lent neighbour, he excused himself by observ-
ing, "that he was highly sensible of, and thank-
ful for, the civility intended him, but that he
had promised to pass that day with his nurse
and foster father, to whom he owed the highest
obligations."
But, to return to his forlorn mother. The
hapless widow's parental feelings were further
lacerated by the death of her two children in a
few months after the loss of her husband ; and
\XX11. MEMOIR OF
Richard only remained, seemingly reserved for
the consolation and comfort of her future years.
Few are the families whose annals can pro-
duce such a complication of calamities : to be
plunged at once from a respectable and comfort-
able station of life, to the extreme of poverty, —
from enjoying all the comforts of domestic hap-
piness, and to lose within a short period, her
her husband, children, and property, were mis-
fortunes of no common magnitude ; but there is
no circumstance or situation of life that does not
furnish matter of useful reflection to the thought-